Profile

Why Tavern made the SteakMap list

Tavern has held Wine Spectator’s National Award of Excellence every year since 2016. That is the middle of Wine Spectator’s three tiers — a step above the entry-level award, requiring real depth and vintage range rather than a competent list — and holding it for a decade running is the mark of a cellar somebody actively maintains.

For a steakhouse in a town of 20,000, that is a genuinely unusual commitment.

Where it is

Tavern sits at 519 North Milwaukee Avenue on the main street through downtown Libertyville, in Chicago’s far northern suburbs in Lake County. It is a walk-to-dinner address in a walkable downtown, rather than a highway steakhouse.

The room serves 4:30–9pm Monday through Thursday and 5–9:30pm Friday and Saturday. Those are early closes by city standards — worth checking before you plan a late table.

What to expect

It is an upscale steakhouse in the conventional sense, built around the beef and the cellar. Given the wine program, this is a room to order a bottle in rather than a glass, and one where asking for a recommendation will get you a real answer.

Prices

Tavern does not publish a machine-readable priced menu, so SteakMap has no verified cuts, weights or prices to quote. Grade and aging are not published either, and we make no claim about them.

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